The report concludes that systemic and cultural problems caused military officials to fail to recognize signs that the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, was becoming increasingly radical before the 2009 shooting, which left 13 people dead.
It also concludes that the FBI failed to share information with the Army - notably, e-mails that Hasan exchanged with a "suspected terrorist," a likely reference to Anwar al-Awlaki, an Islamic cleric well known for his extremist views. The report says the agency might have dismissed such clues to avoid causing "a bureaucratic confrontation."
At a news conference announcing the release of the report, Sen. Joe Lieberman, independent-Conn., said that the investigation's "painful conclusion is that the Fort Hood massacre could have and should have been prevented."
In particular, Lieberman said that the report, issued by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, indicated that the FBI had compelling evidence of extremism that should have led to Hasan's discharge from the military and made him the subject of a counterterrorism investigation.
He pointed to a "sanitized and misleading officer evaluation report from Walter Reed (Army Medial Center)," where Hasan worked, and said that Hasan's words had indicated that he was "not just a ticking time bomb, but a traitor."
The FBI did not have an immediate response to the report. An Army spokesman said in a statement that officials have already implemented several preventive steps since the Fort Hood shooting.
It seems like every time there is a mass killing the conclusion is that it could have been prevented. When are these agencies going to start to share information before it's to late.
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